Various types of dispensers are known and used in the art for dispensing stacks of folded paper products, such as folded towels or napkins. Typical towel dispensers are shown in WO 98/22009 and WO 98/4004. A line of such dispensers is available from Kimberly-Clark Corporation, including the Scottfold(copyright) Folded Towel Dispenser, the Scottfold(copyright) Compact Towel Dispenser, the C-Fold Towel Dispenser, and the Multi-Fold Towel Dispenser. Folded towels are available with various fold configurations, including C-fold, M-fold, L-fold, etc. Another type of fold pattern known in the art is the Scottfold(copyright) pattern from Kimberly-Clark Corporation and described in U. S. Pat. No. 5,118,554.
A disadvantage with various types of commercial dispensers is that, typically, one particular type of dispenser is generally only suited for dispensing a particular type of folded product. The various fold patterns result in the products having various widths and non-uniform thicknesses across their widths. As a result, the conventional dispensers have been designed to maximize dispensing efficiency with respect to only one particular type of product. For example, the shape and configuration of the dispensing throat in conventional dispensers has generally been dictated by the fold pattern and size of the towels. Various configurations of bumpers and ribs have been provided on the interior of the dispensers to maintain alignment of the towels within the dispenser and arrest movement of the towels as they approach the dispensing throat.
A need exists in the art for a more versatile dispenser that can efficiently dispense various types of folded stacks of paper products, such as napkins or towels, without a noticeable decrease in dispensing efficiency between the different products.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a versatile dispenser for efficiently dispensing different types of folded paper products, including napkins or towels.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
The present invention provides a folded paper product dispenser for dispensing various folded profiles of stacked paper products, for example stacked and folded paper napkins and paper towels. The dispenser according to the invention is particularly versatile in that it is capable of dispensing at least three different configurations of stacked paper towels without a statistically significant difference in dispensing efficiency. For example, the present dispenser can dispense C-fold, M-fold, and Scottfold(copyright) towel configurations without a statistically significant difference in dispensing failure rate between the dispenser and a standard conventional dispenser configured for the particular types of folded towels.
The dispenser includes an outer housing having sides, a front wall, and a back wall. The housing defines an interior space sized to accommodate a vertical stack of the folded paper products. A dispensing face is defined by the housing generally adjacent to a bottom of the interior space. For example, the dispensing face may be defined at least in part by a bottommost wall of the housing, and at least in part by a bottom angled wall of the housing that is adjacent to the bottommost wall. This wall is angled upwards and towards the front wall of the housing.
A dispensing throat is defined in the dispensing face. The throat extends longitudinally along the dispensing face and has a forwardmost generally concave edge defined in the angled wall, and a finger access portion defined by the back edge thereof. The finger access portion may be defined in the bottommost wall of the dispenser. The dispensing throat has a widest width measured across the throat at the widest point of the finger access portion.
A plurality of ribs are disposed in the interior of the housing on the angled wall. These ribs serve to align the stacked configuration of paper products within the housing, present the stacked products at a proper orientation for being pulled through the dispensing throat by a user, and also to arrest movement of the paper products as they approach the dispensing throat. The ribs extend from the front wall of the housing towards the concave forwardmost edge of the dispensing throat.
The ribs include a central rib disposed generally at the widest width of the dispensing throat and set back from the concave edge at a first distance. This central rib may have a generally flat and vertical end adjacent to the concave edge. At least one intermediate rib is disposed on each side of the central rib. The intermediate ribs have a generally flat upper surface and merge into a curved end that is set back from the concave edge of the dispensing throat at a second distance. At least one outboard rib may be disposed outboard of each of the intermediate ribs. The outboard ribs also have a generally curved end that is set back from the concave edge of the dispensing throat at a third distance.
The curved ends of the intermediate ribs and outboard ribs are generally concave and may have a radius of about 1.5. Other curved shapes and radii are also contemplated.
In a particularly useful configuration, the first setback distance of the central rib is greater than the second setback distance of the intermediate ribs. The third setback distance of the outboard ribs is greater than the second setback distance of the intermediate ribs and may be equal to or greater than the first setback distance of the central rib.
The dispensing throat has a width at its widest portion that does not exceed about 2xc2xd inches, and in a particularly useful embodiment is about 2xe2x85x9 inches.